Facing Zoom For the Second Time
by sherlocklayton
Summary: My take on what might happen when Barry meets Zoom for a second time. Written before the big Zoom reveal so be nice :/
1. Chapter 1

Barry stared in horror at Jay, who had just come onto the roof. Zoom turned menacingly from Barry and towards the newcomer.

"Jay Garrick," Zoom intoned. "The Flash. Are you finally going to face your superior?"

"Not at all," Jay said, sounding ten times calmer than he actually felt. In reality, his heart was pounding so loudly that everybody in Central City could probably hear it. "I'm finally going to face you, Zoom."

The situation was so crazy that Barry almost laughed.

Zoom actually looked like he was smiling. "Glad to see your sense of humour didn't disappear along with your speed."

Jay felt like he'd been stabbed. The loss of his speed had hit him very hard.

Suddenly Zoom flashed over to him and hit him in the face, sending him down.

"No!" Barry screamed. "Leave him alone!"

Zoom took no notice, instead choosing to kick Jay in the stomach. Then he picked Jay up by his neck with just his left hand. Jay choked as his air supply was abruptly cut off.

"Now you die."

Zoom threw Jay over the side of the roof at the same time as Barry screamed Jay's name.

Jay managed to clutch hold of a metal flagpole that was protruding from the brickwork above one of the windows of the apartment building. He clung to it with both hands, knowing that this would be the only chance he would have to save himself from death.

Zoom loomed over him. "Still you refuse to die?"

As Barry watched the scene with horror, he was distracted by the door to the roof opening.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed to the person who had just come through.

Cisco put his index finger to his lips in a "shh" gesture. Barry knew exactly why Cisco was here but he furiously shook his head. He knew that Cisco was going to "Vibe" Zoom. The information gained would most likely be invaluable, but then so was Cisco's life.

Cisco ran at Zoom.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry yelled, "No!"

This alerted Zoom to the fact that Cisco was there, but it was too late. Cisco leapt onto Zoom's back and hit him twice in the face. He nearly blacked out as the Vibe from Zoom overwhelmed him. Zoom growled with frustration. With Barry watching, he flung Cisco over his head and over the side of the roof. Cisco let out a cry.

Hanging from the flagpole, Jay managed to spot Cisco flying over before it was too late to do anything. He risked taking one of his hands off the flagpole and caught Cisco's right hand as he fell. Both Jay's arms were instantly painfully strained.

"Jay!" Cisco cried. "What can we do?"

Jay didn't waste his energy replying. He just gave Cisco's hand a brief but reassuring extra squeeze.

Back on the roof, Zoom was advancing again on Barry, who was still staring at the spot where both of his friends had gone over. Barry couldn't see Jay and Cisco so he assumed that his friends had fallen to their deaths.

Barry couldn't cry. He just felt numb.

"Now I will break you, Barry Allan," Zoom intoned. "Just like I broke Jay Garrick."

"You've said that already," Barry whispered.

"What?" Zoom sounded confused.

"I said…" Barry trailed off.

He had just heard something. That something gave him new hope. Someone had yelled, "Barry!" and it had sounded very like Jay's voice.

He lunged up and hit Zoom with everything he had. Not expecting it, the other-worldly speedster flew backwards over the roof, just as Jay and Cisco had done. This time, neither Jay nor Cisco made any move to catch Zoom. Both Jay and Cisco watched him disappear down into the black abyss.

Barry bent over the side of the building and was overjoyed to see Jay and Cisco hanging there. He immediately reached down a hand as far as he could.

Jay looked down at Cisco. "I'm going to swing you up, okay?"

Cisco stared back at him with horror. "But what about you?"

Jay ignored him and began swinging his arm. "Reach up as far as you can!"

Cisco obeyed. His and Barry's hands were almost touching. Jay gave one final swing and Cisco's hand was in Barry's. Cisco let go of Jay's hand and Barry gave his other hand so that they were both holding both the other's hands. Barry pulled Cisco onto the roof, where the latter took a moment to lay on the ground and let out all the terror that he had been supressing.

Barry reached his other hand down to Jay, who gazed back at him with sadness. It was only then that Barry noticed that the flagpole Jay was holding onto was breaking.

"No!" Barry shouted, just as the flagpole broke.

Barry's powers took hold just then, as he watched Jay fall. His speed sparked and he raced down the side of the building. Jay cried out in pain as something in the building's brickwork tore a gash in his arm. Barry ran faster and faster until he managed to scoop Jay out of the air. He ran up the building again, took Cisco, and then ran back down again, back to Star Labs.

When he got there, Barry collapsed with exhaustion, dropping Cisco and Jay. Caitlyn rushed over to Cisco and hugged him tightly, telling him how worried she was about him.

Joe and Iris approached Barry and asked him if he was okay and fussed over him. Wells congratulated Barry.

An unconscious Jay was lying on his side. Barry turned him over and found that the sharp thing on the side of the building that had hurt Jay hadn't actually cut his arm.

It had cut a hole in his side.

"Cait…!"

Caitlyn instantly rose and examined Jay. "He's lost a lot of blood," she said worriedly. "You running here increased the rate of blood loss."

Barry almost swore. This was all his fault!

"Is he going to be okay?" Wells asked, showing uncharacteristic concern.

"He needs a transfusion," Caitlyn explain, her hands flapping about as she tried to think of something.

"Then transfuse some blood to him!" Barry said. "Use one of us."

Caitlyn looked round at everyone. They all nodded to show that they were ready to do it for Jay. "Okay, okay," Caitlyn said, nearly cracking under the overwhelming pressure. "Um…it needs to be from the same blood group. What blood type are you all?"

Cisco: Ab

Joe: A

Iris: A

Caitlyn: Ab

Wells: B

Barry: O

"Jay's blood group is also O," Caitlyn said worriedly. "But we don't know what putting your blood in him will do to him."

"It's a risk we have to take if we're going to save his life," Barry said determinedly. "Do it."

Caitlyn nodded, completely terrified.


	3. Chapter 3

An hour later, it was all over. Jay was lying on a bed, with Barry next to him, shirtless, and with a bandage over his arm.

"Did it work?" Iris asked worriedly.

All eyes turned to Caitlyn, who closed her eyes. "I don't know. We won't know until he wakes up… _if_ he wakes up."

Barry placed a hand on Caitlyn's shoulder and used the other one to rub her back. The scientist looked ready to pass out with worry and exhaustion. "It'll work, Cait. He'll wake up. I have faith in you."

"So do I," Cisco chimed in.

The others all added their agreement. Caitlyn smiled, despite herself, but everybody was distracted by Jay stirring. Still with his eyes closed, he raised a hand to cover his forehead, as if he had a massive headache. Caitlyn and Barry immediately went to either side of the bed.

"How do you feel?" Caitlyn asked, the tension in the room taking a sharp increase.

Jay was silent for a moment, before answering, "Like I've just had a blood transfusion. I assume it was Barry who donated?"

Barry nodded. "That's right." He laid his hand on Jay's. "You nearly died."

"Don't tell him that!" Caitlyn chided, swatting Barry's shoulder. "His blood pressure is already way higher than normal. Don't excite him."

Jay gave a chuckle, finally opening his eyes and checked the heart monitor. "Once upon a time, not even creating a sonic boom would raise my blood pressure that much."

"Uh, Jay?" Cisco stepped forwards. "I don't want to worry anybody too much, but your legs are vibrating."

Everyone, including Jay, peered at Jay's legs. It was true. Jay's legs _were_ vibrating.

Frowning, Jay swung his legs over the bed and stood up. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he went flying into the wall. Caitlyn and Barry helped him up.

"What the hell just happened?" Joe burst out.

Jay was staring down at the ground. He tried to walk but instead he sped, using super speed, round to the other side of the room, looking just like Barry's Flash as he did. Barry himself was regarding Jay with amazement. "Flash," he said. "I think you just regained your speed."

Jay stared at Barry in amazement. "The blood of a speedster," he said, shaking his head. "Who knew?"

"Wait," Barry said suddenly, remembering something. "Cisco, did you Vibe Zoom?"

Cisco glanced down at the floor. "Yeah, I did."

The fact that Cisco said nothing after that statement infuriated the rest of the people in the room, who desperately wanted to know what information Cisco had gained from Zoom.

"So what info did you get?" Caitlyn asked, sounding calm but looking like she wanted to shake Cisco by the shoulders.

"I know who Zoom really is."

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

"Who is he?" Barry asked, dreading the answer.

"He's the Earth-2 version of someone most of us in this room know quite well."

"Who?" Iris asked nervously. Joe took her hand reassuringly.

"Eobard Thawne."


	4. Chapter 4

"Eobard Thawne."

Complete silence followed this.

Eventually, Caitlyn choked out, "E-E-E…Thawne?"

Jay and Wells, the only two people in the room who hadn't heard of Eobard Thawne, glanced at each other. Though both of them vaguely knew that Eobard Thawne was the person who had impersonated Earth-1 Harrison Wells, neither of them knew why this was such a surprise.

"T-that's impossible," Barry stuttered.

"I thought so too," Cisco said, sounding worryingly calm, though his face betrayed the pain he felt. He turned to the confused Jay and Wells. "Eobard from Earth-1 was born a few centuries in the future," he explained. "But when I saw the Earth-2 version of him in the Vibe, he looked exactly the same as he looked here. He was born a few centuries early in Earth-2, or so we're being led to believe."

Cisco glanced around the room at everybody, his gaze lingering on Iris West, whose face was the picture of grief and pain. Hearing her deceased fiancée's surname must have opened up some old wounds, seeing as Eddie had died wiping Eobard from existence. Joe must have seen this on her face, because he put his arm around her.

Jay was still trying to get his head around everything. "So this man was a descendent of her fiancée, who died stopping him," he stated.

Joe glared at him for mentioning Eddie but Iris nodded. "That's right. Since Eddie was Eobard's ancestor, Eddie shot himself to make sure that Eobard was never born."

Jay felt an overwhelming wave of sympathy towards her. "I know how you feel."

Iris and Joe glanced at him curiously but their attention was diverted by Barry asking Cisco, "So what context was the Vibe in?"

Cisco knew what Barry meant. "I saw him walking around the Star Labs building in Earth-2."

Wells strode forwards. "And?" he asked.

"He was with a girl." Cisco closed his eyes to remember the Vibe better. "He was with Jesse."

"Jesse?" Wells took hold of Cisco's shoulders and virtually shook him as he bombarded the young engineer with questions. "How did she look? Was she okay? Did she look okay? Was she willingly with him? Did she do anything?"

"Fine, yes, yes, no, and she kicked Eobard in the stomach," Cisco relayed. Despite himself, Wells grinned. "Then Eobard hit her round the face."

Wells's grin disappeared. "He did _what_?"

Cisco was afraid to repeat it. Luckily, Wells went on and he didn't have to. "How dare he lay a finger on my Jesse? When we capture Zoom, I swear, I'll-!"

Barry placed a hand on Well's shoulder, calming him down. Though nobody said it, Barry knew that everyone was grateful for Wells's optimism. "Hey, I promise Zoom will answer for all the people he's hurt and killed."

Barry glanced at Iris, and he knew she was thinking about her and Linda's boss, who had been killed by Zoom.

"But we gotta focus on capturing Zoom first," Caitlyn pointed out. "Though our odds are slowly getting better."

Barry grinned at Jay. "Now we've got two Flashes."

"Exactly." Jay grinned. "So let's get started."


End file.
